European stocks ended lower on Monday, as banks fell on concerns over credit ratings at major US mortgage lenders and by a rise in crude oil prices.
Standard & Poor's warned on Friday it may cut its ratings on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
UBS fell 5.5%, Royal Bank of Scotland dropped 4.7% and Barclays lost 5.3%.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index unofficially ended down 0.9% at 1,158.86 points
Standard & Poor's warned on Friday it may cut its ratings on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
In Frankfurt, the DAX index ended at 6,351.15 points, down 85.56 or 1.33%. In Paris, the CAC-40 index closed at 4,324.45 points, down 52.73 or 1.2%. In Zurich, the Swiss market index closed at 6,968.93 points, down 46.1 or 0.66%.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 ended 40 points lower, 0.8%, at 5,312.6 after losing 0.4% last week. The index is down nearly 18% to date this year.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei averagewas up 19.02 points, 0.14%, at 13,353.78.
In Hong Kong, shares fell 0.24% on the lowest turnover in nearly 16 months. The Hang Seng closed down 53.50 points at 22,687.21.
The Australian 200 Index shed another almost 1% - down 48 points to 4922 - adding to a decline of 3.4% the previous session, after a profit warning by the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.
The NZX 50 closed up slightly on Monday - by 2 points at 3256.
In the currency markets: on Tuesday morning, the New Zealand dollar was trading at US74.48 US cents, 77.78 Australian cents, 37.32 pence, 80.02 yen and 0.4727 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 66.38.
